Water Wrackets is another short experimental film from Peter Greenaway from his early phase before he started directing feature films in the 80's. In truth, this one is very similar to the others I have seen from this period, in that it combines well-composed yet decidedly lo-fi imagery with a voice-over which recounts something strange. I find with these films, and Greenaway in general, that I have to find something intriguing in the imagery in order to enjoy it, as I find Greenaway to be a terrible dialogue writer. In these early shorts, this situation is made slightly worse by narrator Colin Cantlie's slightly grating plummy voice; while the stories he recounts are always absurd and ultimately tedious. Water Wrackets is no different to the others in all these regards, yet I found it to be one of the better ones for sure. The static imagery of country-side streams and such was really rather beautiful and somewhat beguiling at times. The voice-over, on the other hand, waffled on about some future people building a series of dams or something and I kind of tuned out after a while. But in this case, Greenaway's awful writing didn't overpower his graceful photography and Water Wrackets consequently made for a satisfying watch.
Review of Water Wrackets
